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Paleo-biogeography Paleo-biogeography

• paleo-geology • for historical • paleo-climatology biogeography: • paleo-vegetation “clock-calibration” Why study fossils? • paleo- floristics/faunistics

Paleo-biogeography Paleo-biogeography • paleo floras - We will examine the rise of land vegetation and floras moving onto land over and specifically in N. America and the Great Lakes 400 mya and region by using information from paleobiogeography becoming the dominant set of terrestrial organisms • modern floras - diversification of land S Sun Ge and David Dilcher and plants and especially earliest eudicot at 124 mya flowering plants over the last 100 my • ice age events (Pleistocene - last 2.5 Edith and Tom Taylor on one of their 7 fossil hunting expeditions to Antarctica my) and the assembly of vegetation and flora in Great Lakes region Why study fossils? during recent times (Holocene)

1 Earth Time Earth Time First evidence of life? - 3.8 bya A different perspective before taking Oldest fossils, cyanobacteria- 3.5 bya a look at the rise and fall of floras = late March (1/4 of earth time ) and faunas through time . . .

Earth forms at 4.6 bya = January 1, 12:00 a.m.

Age of the earth = 1 calendar year Age of the earth = 1 calendar year 4.6 billion years = 365 days 4.6 billion years = 365 days

Stromatolites - CaCO3 ppt by cyanobacteria = photosynthesis!

Earth Time Earth Time

O2 accumulates in atmosphere - First eukaryotes - 1.5 bya 2.0 bya = early September (2/3 of earth = late July (>1/2 of earth time) time gone)

CO2 Starch + +

H2O O2

reducing oxidizing atmosphere atmosphere

anaerobe aerobe Age of the earth = 1 calendar year evolution Age of the earth = 1 calendar year 4.6 billion years = 365 days 4.6 billion years = 365 days

2 Earth Time Earth Time

First abundant fossils in First land life in - 460 “explosion” - 560 million ya mya (a liverwort?) Many phyla of animals = November 15 (7/8ths of earth = early November time gone!)

Spore Tetrad Age of the earth = 1 calendar year Age of the earth = 1 calendar year 4.6 billion years = 365 days Burgess Shale 4.6 billion years = 365 days

Earth Time Earth Time Earliest civilization of Homo First flowering - 127 mya = sapiens and assembling of Great December 22 Lakes flora - 13,000 ya = December 31, 11:59 p.m.

Age of the earth = 1 calendar year Age of the earth = 1 calendar year 4.6 billion years = 365 days 4.6 billion years = 365 days

3 Geological Time Scale - the Fossil Record Geological Time Scale - the Fossil Record

Periods will be the important part of the Please, Easy On My geological time scale to Pliable Quads reference changes in vegetation, flora, fauna

Know Three Juicy Creatures

1. the sequence of the Periods, 2. the general time in Campbell’s Ordinary million of years, Soups Develop 3. and important Carbohydrates events, plant and Permanently animal groups

Carboniferous

Extant Land Plants Extant Land Plants

Anthoceratophyta hornworts

Bryophyta “bryophytes” Lycopodiophyta Pinophyta mosses mosses club mosses gymnosperms Marchantiophyta liverworts

“bryophytes” • 16,000 species • nonvascular plants, least specialized land plants, gametophyte dominant • comprising 3phyla) Polypodiophyta Magnoliophyta and horsetails angiosperms

4 Extant Land Plants Extant Land Plants

club moss

quillwort

Lycopodiophyta - lycopods Polypodiophyta – ferns • 1,150 species • the ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns • vascular plants, least specialized spikemoss • 11,000 species vascular plants • diverse in habit and habitat • sporophyte dominant; free sporing • spores produced in specialized sporangia • comprising 3 families

Extant Land Plants Extant Land Plants

Pinophyta - gymnosperms

• 870 species • seed plants but seeds naked or exposed • often divided into 4 phyla gnetophytes

Magnoliophyta - angiosperms, flowering plants • 275,000 – 400,000 species • tremendous adaptive radiation on land • seed plants with seeds encased in ovary

conifers cycads ginkgo

5 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Cambrian Period (540 - 505 mya) Cambrian Period (540 - 505 mya)

• most phyla of animals seen except • most phyla of animals seen except chordates – all marine chordates – all marine • lime secreting algae in marine water • fungi diversifying (starting at about 600 mya) • no life on land!

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Cambrian Period (540 - 505 mya) Ordovician Period (505 - 440 mya)

vascular plants • jawed fish diversifying in oceans

• complex green algae in marine water

• First evidence of land life at 460 mya non-vascular plants

Microfossils of spores with sporopollenin (degradation resistant material like lignin) and similar to modern day bryophytes such as liverworts

Found worldwide in shales that were deposited at the marine-terrestrial interface • molecular clock - life on land! Morris et al. 2018. The timescale of early land plant evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.

6 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Ordovician Period (505 - 440 mya) Ordovician Period (505 - 440 mya) • Other evidence of land life • Other evidence of land life

Glomales fungi seen in 460 my Wisconsin rock. Glomales today form important arbuscular mycorrhizal “Sphagnum” moss seen in 455 my associations with some liverworts and Wisconsin rock - 2nd diverging lineage hornworts and many vascular plants. of bryophytes Symbiosis!

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Silurian Period (440 - 410 mya) Period (440 - 410 mya) Cooksonia fossils are seen in the mid Cooksonia fossils are seen in the mid Silurian growing close to water Silurian growing close to water Euramerica • very simple, stick-like, leafless plants but sporophyte dominant • roots never seen • terminal flat sporangia (spore producing structures) • primitive vascular or possibly non-vascular • first seen in Euramerica (tropical setting) and later in Australia

7 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Silurian Period (440 - 410 mya) Early Period (410 - 390 mya) Late Silurian is also the first occurrence The ‘greening’ of the earth of land animals - arachnids, centipedes Abundant and exquisite fossils known Predators and thus indicate that there from chert fossil beds in Rhynie, were unknown herbivores - community northern Scotland (tropical Euramerica) of plants, herbivores and carnivores!

Silurian view Trigonotarbid Spider in chert

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

• underground (root) and above Early Devonian Period (410 - 390 mya) • underground (root) and above Early Devonian Period (410 - 390 mya) ground photosynthetic stem ground photosynthetic stem The Early Devonian lasted some 30 million The Early Devonian lasted some 30 million • rhizoids (water uptake) years after the first appearance in mid- • rhizoids (water uptake) years after the first appearance in mid- • primitive leaves Silurian of simple land plants • primitive leaves Silurian of simple land plants • internal transport - vascular During this interval the critical features of • internal transport - vascular During this interval the critical features of tissue land plant survival evolved: tissue land plant survival evolved: • epidermis, cuticle, stomates • epidermis, cuticle, stomates • support tissue - lignin • shift to sporophyte rather than gametophyte dominant • sporopollenin to cover spores for protection gametophyte Rhynia sporophyte

8 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

• underground (root) and above Early Devonian Period (410 - 390 mya) Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) ground photosynthetic stem The Early Devonian lasted some 30 million First “progymnosperms” - believed to be • rhizoids (water uptake) years after the first appearance in mid- ancestors of seed plants • primitive leaves Silurian of simple land plants • internal transport - vascular During this interval the critical features of tissue land plant survival evolved: • epidermis, cuticle, stomates • support tissue - lignin • shift to sporophyte rather than gametophyte dominant • sporopollenin to cover spores for protection • more complex embryo

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) First “progymnosperms” - free sporing like First complex leaves - megaphylls ferns but trees like gymnosperms; first forests

Archaeopteris Archaeopteris

9 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya)

Eospermatopteris trunks from New York First true ferns - free sporing with recently connected to Wattieza like complex sporangia & megaphylls crown. 385 my old forests of at least 8m tall trees with primitive root systems.

Protopteridium

Pteridium - Bracken fern

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) Rhacophyton and the rarer Gillespiea were understory ferns in the First “seeds” - “seed fern” lineage Archaeopteris forests. Rhacophtyon produced enough biomass, that the first records of forest fires are seen in the Catskill fossil sites Plants fern-like with dissected compound leaves, but produce naked seeds (embryo within protective coverings)

Rhacophyton Gillespiea Archaeosperma

10 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Late Devonian Period (390 - 360 mya) Period (360 - 286 mya) • Great diversity of plants in warm, wet • Provincialism seen due to global cooling climate and no apparent provincialism • Ice sheets at South Pole (due to CO yet seen - worldwide 2 decrease via plants?) and tropical forests at • Arthropods diversify and first equator seen by late Devonian

Ichthyostega Hynerpeton

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya)

• extensive forests increased O2 levels worldwide and saw greatest incidence of fire

Lower Carboniferous lycopsid charcoal fossils The equatorial “coal” forests were the site for the diversification of insects . . .

11 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) The tropical equatorial coal swamps . . . and the first appearance of reptiles were dominated by a diversity of lycopsids (lycopod lineage) and horsetails (fern lineage)

Hylonomus, primitive reptile, leaping after an insect in a coal swamp of Nova Scotia

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Lepidodendron (lycopod) was 30 m tall The scaly bark of Lepidodendron is with 1 meter long “microphyll” leaves distinctive as a fossil

Lepidodendron

12 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Lepidodendron, along with Sigillaria, were large; but other lycopsids Calamites was the dominant large tree-like horsetail (sphenopsid); but were herbaceous and even viney other smaller horsetails covered the ground

Annularia

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) Carboniferous Period (360 - 286 mya) “Seed ferns” continue to diversify “Seed ferns” continue to diversify First indication of insect pollination - insect movement of male pollen (microgametophyte) to egg in female gametophyte in Medullosa

Medullosa

13 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) Period (286 - 245 mya)

At the end of the Paleozoic, Pangaea begins Herbivorous insects and reptiles diversify to coalesce Lycopods and sphenopsids still dominate, Tethys Sea forms and allows for provincial but true ferns, “seed ferns”, ginkgophytes, floras to develop cycadophytes, and cone bearing gymnosperms begin to replace them

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Cathaysia (equatorial) Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) • Rich, rain-forest Possible forerunners to modern conifers 3 provincial floras develop in beginning to be seen with fossils such as • Seed ferns, lycopsids, response to continentality and Cordaites with cones sphenopsids still separated land masses Fossilized trunks common around Angarar (Northern Hemisphere) Welwitschia sites in the Namib Desert region • Cordaites conifers • Northern hemisphere mainly

Continentality - mid continent aridity first seen

14 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) Cathaysia (equatorial) Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) • Rich, rain-forest Delnortea abbottii – large seed ferns from 3 provincial floras develop in the oil rich shales of central Texas [collected • Seed ferns, lycopsids, response to continentality and in Abilene State Park] sphenopsids still separated land masses Angarar (Northern Hemisphere) • Cordaites conifers • Northern hemisphere mainly Gondwana (Southern Hemisphere) • Glossopterids

Continentality - mid continent aridity first seen

Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) Permian Period (286 - 245 mya) South of the tropical flora dominated Remember! Wegener described by lycopsids, sphenopsids, and seed both plant and animal fossil ferns existed the Glossopterid flora examples supporting his theory — he believed that this biogeographic • Big trees with net-veined leaves data was the strongest evidence for his theory • Seed bearing (derived from female gametophyte) and pollen forming (from male gametophyte) Glossopteris - Permian seed plants

Biogeographically ties together Mesosaurus - Permian freshwater reptile flora of Gondwana Cynognathus - land reptile “ ” Gond = site in India where Lystrosaurus - Triassic land reptile Glossopterid fossils first seen “Gondwana” = “land of Gond”

15 Extinct Land Plants - the Fossil Record

End of the Paleozoic Era (245 mya) By the end of Permian and the Paleozoic Era, land life had seen:

• terrestrial green algae

•Bryophytes

• early non-vascular and vascular lineages

• Lycopodiophyta

• (ferns and allies)

• Progymnosperms (free sporing)

• Early seed plants including Glossopterids, seed ferns, conifers, cycadophytes, ginkgophytes

16